his story straight. he needs to stop debating himself. and at the end of the day, this election isn't about one liners. just ask our president. >> i know folks in the media are speculating already on who's going to have the best zingers. what i'm most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing and restore security for hardworking americans. that's what people are going to be listening for. that's the debate that you deserve. >> that's the debate voters deserve. and on wednesday night, they won't be distracted by any zingers cooked up by romney's team of joke writers. joining me now is michelle cottle, washington correspondent for "newsweek" and the daily beast. and dana milbank, columnist for "the washington post." thanks to you both for coming on tonight. dana, are zingers the answer for mitt romney? >> well, he has to beware the very perilous boomerang zinger. delivering in sort of the wrong way, then it looks canned, it looks contrived and that you're trying too hard. if he comes out and says, there you go again, you're

thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, can we predict who will win the election? and to help answer the question, i want to introduce fake governor romney and fake president obama. welcome to "politicsnation" and great to see you. folks, 39 days till the election and there's one way to predict who will win that really does seem to work. it turns out, the sale of presidential halloween masks are actually a great way to know who's going to win. in fact, in the past four elections, halloween masks have determined by their sales they accurately predicted the winner. and guess who is selling more this year? that's right. president obama masks are out selling mitt romney's masks by nearly 40%. congratulations, mr. president. when you think about it, mitt romney's been hiding behind a mask this entire election. a mask he only takes off in quiet rooms, behind closed doors, when he's talking to wealthy donors. but voters don't seem to like it much. and a new fox news poll, yes, fox news poll, shows romney trailing nationally by five points. and get this, he has a lower favorable ratin

know who's going to win. in fact, in the past four elections, halloween masks have determined by their sales they accurately predicted the winner. and guess who is selling more this year? that's right. president obama masks are out selling mitt romney's masks by nearly 40%. congratulations, mr. president. when you think about it, mitt romney's been hiding behind a mask this entire election. a mask he only takes off in quiet rooms, behind closed doors, when he's talking to wealthy donors. but voters don't seem to like it much. and a new fox news poll, yes, fox news poll, shows romney trailing nationally by five points. and get this, he has a lower favorable rating than george w. bush. don't adjust your tv set. mr. romney is less liked than bush. huh? maybe that's something to do with the fact that he can't seem to answer basic questions. >> how was that? >> i have nothing. >> guys, here we go. >> guys -- it's just -- all we've got here is beef jerky? who here wants a piece of beef jerky? that's all i've got. this was given to us by jack link. >> what do you have planned for the weekend?